


Aiding and abetting

by thiefofbluefire



Series: Query: is it illegal to save the world by creating a paradox? [7]
Category: Rockman X | Mega Man X, Rockman | Mega Man - All Media Types, Rockman | Mega Man Classic, 流星のロックマン | Mega Man Star Force
Genre: Chatting & Messaging, Danger, Major Character Injury, Non-Linear Narrative, Undercover Missions, Unreliable Narrator
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-03
Updated: 2020-05-15
Packaged: 2020-07-30 12:27:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,923
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20097223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thiefofbluefire/pseuds/thiefofbluefire
Summary: "Raindrops taste like cheese without the pain."Password accepted.Welcome back user!New messages available.





	1. Other vigilante justice bringers

One unread message

Sep. 11_  
1340_

Kman: hey @No.01 you there?

Sep. 11_  
1400_

No.01: my PET been lagging, got the message late. did something happen on your end?

Kman: everything went smoothly. We looked into that year walking thing you mentioned and I got to say, I wasn't expecting you to be interested in folklore like that.

No.01: all stories have a foot in reality. Even the seemingly fictional folk tales. Did your sources mention anything about the watchers at all?

Kman: Not really. Though that might've gotten lost in my Navi's translator program. I can tell him to try running it again.

No.01: don't bother. If it didn't come up the first time, you won't be able to find it on the second try without overanalyzing every Character of text in the file. I doubt you have the patience for that.

Kman: I can if I'm interested. It was a good read, not unlike that Lovecraft stuff you had us looking at last week. But remind me again why you're so interested in this Eldritch beings stuff?

No.01: there's nothing to remind you of, seeing as I never told you in the first place.

Kman: why can't I know?

No.01: because you're in enough trouble as it is and letting you in on my shenanigans will obliterate your already wacked sleep schedule.

Kman: sleep is for the weak.

No.01: sleep is for the living. And it's wonderful, you unappreciative cretin.

Kman: have you made any progress on the new visualizers? Mm is asking.

No.01: tell Geo to stop snooping and watch the door.

Kman: Frick they're almost on top of us. Gtg.

No.01: potassium.


	2. Don't look now

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There are traitors and heroes, beggars who won't belong in this world.
> 
> They believe in the same truth; believe in eternal time.
> 
> Forevermore.

If Kazuma didn't need to sleep, then he wouldn't.

At the same time, if there wasn't a process to waking up and getting his body to a completely functional state of being, then he'd be more willing to sleep for longer. 

But since sleep was a necessary commodity that came with waking up rituals, then Kazuma had to oblige.  
Which is why he found himself and Geo at a cafe at five thirty in the morning mulling over espressos and the data they retrieved from the library regarding the practice of Arsgång, or year-walking.

Despite No.01's request for Kazuma to drop it, he told Bon Bonne to re-translate the entire journal document from start to finish, focusing on the correct grammar usage, spelling, and sentence structure in order to get the most faithful and direct translation possible.  
Bon Bonne was just finished with the fifth page.

Three hours of silence and sneaking, two and a half hours of sleep, and another hour or so trying to find a place to lay low where there weren't that many posters with Kazuma Hikari's face plastered on them and a tiny cafe in the back end of the wind district was his only temporary haven.

But Bon Bonne was only done re-translating the fifth frickin page.

Kazuma let his face fall onto his crossed arms on the table and let out a long groan.

"That good, huh?" Geo asked sarcastically from across the table as he stirred his coffee.

Kazuma lifted his head enough to watch Geo sip the cheap morning brew, contort his face in disgust, and set the cup down before reaching for more cream and sugar.

Kazuma was tempted to offer a sip of his espresso to the poor exhausted Mega man, but Geo was a decaf kind of person and he had already been struggling with the regular stuff for weeks now.

When Kazuma had been accused of stealing the original source code for the old Mega Man net Navi, as well as his ultimate program (both of which he'd never known he might've had access to), Geo Stellar was the first one who was willing to hear him out and believe in his innocence. It's gotten both his normal life as well as his persona as Mega man into trouble, and Kazuma wasn't sure if he should've felt more grateful for the help or more guilty for getting someone so heroic painted as a villain.

The hacker was too tired to make a quip back, so instead he just sat back up and took a swig of his espresso shot. After, he decided to think back to what he initially gathered from investigating the Arsgång ritual.

Basically, in Swedish folklore, if someone starves and isolates themselves on the last night of the year, or on any important holiday, before venturing out into the dark to interact with supernatural beings during the wee hours of the morning, then they'll be granted a vision of the future. Though, if what the initial translation said was anything to go by, people who allegedly tried it ended up being criminals, insane, and criminally insane.

Maybe no one liked what the future held.

"What do you think Number one wants to know with this year-walking thing?" Kazuma asked, since picking Geo's brain was always something to do.

"Not sure," Geo admitted, grimacing after another sip of coffee. "He's been helpful with his foresight so far, maybe he's looking into, uh... Looking forward a little further?"

The mysterious network entity No.01 came into the picture when Kazuma's credit accounts were locked up so he couldn't use them anymore. The figure on the other side of the messages claimed to believe in Kazuma's innocence and was willing to help in searching for not only evidence of said innocence, but also the location of the missing codes, and had reached out to Kazuma and linked his transer to a private savings account as a show of good faith.

No.01 had also offered to get them some new visualizers for navigating the wave world and aided Geo and Kazuma's many necessary police evasions as well, having a kind of sixth sense for the officers movements.  
The only thing he asked for in return was that the guys look into a couple of things when they could get the chance.

The first thing had been a relic mirror in a museum believed to belong to an ancient emperor. The second was the anthology of H.P. Lovecraft and his many stories of the unfeeling cosmos above their reality.  
And now, year-walking. The act of trying to glimpse the future.

One of those things was not like the others.

Kazuma was sure that they made sense to No.01, but guessing how was difficult.

"Sure, look further into the future. But for what?" Kazuma asked in response to Geo's suggestion.

"Maybe it's something personal." Geo thought aloud, tapping on his chin.  
"Or someone."

"You know, real hackers don't have names or faces," Kazuma pointed out with a yawn. "Even if he was an exception to that rule, he doesn't seem like the dating type."

"I dunno, you have a face, don't you?" The Mega man asked over the rim of his cup.

"I'm a hobbyist." Kazuma deflected, leaning back in his chair. "That's different."

"Yeah, and Mega here's a harmwess widdle bunny wabbit," Geo teased, pointing to his transer.

"Hey!" Omega-xis growled from the transer speaker, obviously offended. "I'm not even close to being a rabbit!"

Kazuma and Geo snickered at his expense. Indeed, Omega-xis was a far cry from a rabbit.

The FM-ian had been one of the more surprising oddities that Kazuma had to rationalize with the whole situation that his life had turned into. Though that isn't to say that having an alien like him hanging around wasn't great. Geo was a good guy and easy to talk to, without a doubt, but it was refreshing when Mega brought his thoughts to the table.

"It's not funny, Geo!"

"I know Mega." Geo chuckled. "Sorry."

"In any case," the fm-ian grunted, changing the subject. "What do you mean, 'real hackers don't have faces?'"

"I mean that a good hacker doesn't really have a life outside his craft." Kazuma explained. "The persona online is where they feel free to express who they really are without the need of a face to distract conversation."

"That's a little counterintuitive to when you're always saying that you're the best." Omega-xis hummed, smug.

Kazuma reeled back, fiening offense with a hand over his heart.

"Hey now, I am the best. I don't like your tone!"

"I'm only teasing." Omega-xis assured. "I trust someone with a face more than someone without one. This number one guy has been a help, but..."

"But?" Geo prompted.

"Like I said. I don't trust someone who doesn't have a face."

"That's understandable." Kazuma admitted. "My folks not trusting me is how this mess started after all, and I'm one of the good guys. But, back to year walking. What do you think it has to do with the stuff number one had us looking at before?"

The Mega man turned his mouth down in thought, shivering to himself as he took another sip of coffee. He gave a grimace that Kazuma interpreted as " there still isn't enough cream in here," before his eyes widened and his eyebrows shot up.

"Huh." Geo hummed as he put the cup back down, leaning back in his chair. "You know, maybe it's something to do with faces."

"What do you mean?" Kazuma asked, threading his fingers together on the table.

"I mean, look at what we've seen so far; a mirror, which you use to see yourself, a bunch of stories about horrifying stuff including crazy ways that people could be disfigured or have their appearance altered, and then...uh.." he paused, working his jaw. "If you wondered about what you would look like in the future, you'd year walk to do it, wouldn't you?"

"A mission of identity you mean?" Kazuma asked, interest sparked.

"Yeah." Geo nodded.

Then Kazuma knitted his eyebrows down.

"But that doesn't explain what he said in his last message about the 'watchers'." He muttered.

"Unless number one is trying to figure out what the identity of the watchers is," Geo suggested. "That sounds like a kookie conspiracy a network warrior like him would be interested in."

"Then why ask fugitives to look into it for him..?" Kazuma prompted quietly, checking over his shoulder if anyone was listening.

He'd suddenly started feeling uncomfortable. The air felt charged and tense, and Geo felt it too.

"Good question." Geo whispered slowly, subtly reaching for his transer as his eyes darted around where Kazuma's couldn't.

Kazuma didn't see anyone in the cafe who looked to be watching them, but it did seem like other people were on edge too.

"Do you smell that?" The attendant at the register called.

Kazuma gave a sniff. The cafe air had it's scent; coffee, cakes and the like, but there was something distinctly metallic and electric there now too.

Kazuma grabbed his transer and Geo pressed his to his chest as he started standing up.

"I don't think that's the caffeine." Muttered the Mega man.

And no sooner had he said that before the lights went out.

"Everyone!" Kazuma called out to the few patrons besides them as he stood up.  
"Get behind the cash register! I'm contacting the authorities!"

"For what?!" Called a young woman from her table.

"There might be EM viruses nearby." Geo explained moving to help another patron, an elderly man, out of his chair. "Heard they won't attack you if they can't see you."

The attendant quickly moved to the woman and whispered something to her that got her willing to hide with the other folks behind the display case.

"Bon Bonne," Kazuma whispered to his transer. "What was that surge?"

"Not sure-bon" the Navi chirped from the screen. "The entire block looks dark too."

"I think there's someone in the ladies room," the attendant said as she came back out from behind the desk.

"I'll check the men's," Geo offered once the old man was safe with the young woman and a group of tired-looking teenagers behind the pie display. 

Kazuma turned back to his transer as they went.

"Scan for viruses." He ordered, and Bon Bonne obliged for one second before letting out a scream.

"Away from the window-bon!"

A light flashed outside and Kazuma hit the deck just before the cafe windows all simultaneously exploded into thousands of pieces. Thunder echoed from outside, loudly rumbling down the street to set off car alarms.  
Now, Kazuma wasn't actually planning on contacting the authorities, but odds were they had heard that and would come running. 

Great.

But how did that happen?

"Bon Bonne?" The hacker asked as he crouched up, trying to will the ringing in his ears to stop.

"Power surge-bon!" The Navi wizard chirped. "Not viruses, it's a big energy signature-bon!"

"But what's causing it?!"

"You okay?!" Geo called, running over the shards of glass.

"Yeah, thank God for gloves and padded jackets," Kazuma grunted as Geo pulled him up on his feet. A static spark struck Kazuma when Geo touched him, and it was only then that he realized Geo had already turned into his waveform persona, complete with shiny blue armor and purple hair.

"Well, you're quick." The hacker remarked.

"Have to be. You know that." Mega man replied easily. "What broke the windows?"

"You hooooooo~" sang a woman's voice from outside above all the car alarms, and something about it just sounded off.

"Where are you, Hikari child?" She called.

Kazuma grit his teeth. Someone had found him. They needed to get out of there.

"I'll see what's up." Mega man offered, disappearing into the wave spectrum.

Guess he was thinking the same thing.

\---

Geo's wave form materialized on the third highest wave road across the street in hopes of getting a good look at the perpetrator before she could get a load of him.

"Huh?" Wondered both heads of the Mega man.

They weren't sure exactly what to expect, but a petite woman clad in gleaming gold armor floating in the air where all the wave roads were not certainly wasn't attop the list.

"Aw, that really does not roll off the tongue like the other one," she whined before giving a harrumph with a sway to her hips. "Oh well. You cannot hide! I know you're around here!"

"You know, she kinda looks like your friend Luna," Omega-xis murmured.

To be fair, the long, blonde, twin ponytail silhouette was similar to the class president, but not similar enough.

Besides, even merged with an FM-ian, Luna couldn't make that many buildings go completely dark. Not even in pursuit of Mega Man.

Well, squinting at her backside would only tell them so much.

"Hey!" Geo barked out.

"Hm?" She hummed, daintily spinning around to see what made the noise.

Her armor patterns were oddly familiar, but also completely alien as the light reflected dazzlingly when she moved. Her face was round with small, doll-like lips turned down in snooty annoyance, added to it her large, hot eyes staring at him like a bug.

Well, since they had her attention…

"Bold move, coming out and causing a racket just for one guy. Who are you?" Geo asked pointedly.

She called out Kazuma by name, which was bad news on it's own, but that she didn't even slightly look like the suits and officers always on the hacker's tail was troubling.

"The other little blue pest," she scoffed, rolling her eyes and tossing her head. "I have no requirement to answer that!"

With the declaration, the woman cast her hand out in front of her and clenched a fist.  
Ozone flooded Geo's nostrils and he jumped down instinctively to another wave road as bolts of electricity rained down from nowhere, pelting the golden waves where he previously stood.

When he had footing on the next road, Geo picked up his feet and sprinted onto her flank. Reading his thoughts, Omega-xis opened his maw as Geo rallied to return fire, peppering the air with white hot pellets.

The woman's version of evasive maneuvers was less "duck and cover" than it was "slide to the left", as she dropped her weight and glided sideways, occasionally batting away shots with an electric blue whip she pulled from her hip.

Geo paused a moment to charge a shot and consider a battle card. With how she was moving, he'd miss if he was too hasty.

"Predict it," the mega Man breathed to himself, aiming for her weapon arm and letting it fly.

Something odd happened then.

Odd as in Geo's aim was on point, but in an instant she was suddenly nowhere near where the charged shot was going.

As in, she was suddenly right next to him.

The end of her whip snapped thunder at his feet, forcing him off balance and awkwardly dancing away from her advance. Omega-xis growled and snapped teeth back at her, trying to catch the whip and get it away from her.

"Oh how cute!" She sneered through her teeth as she abruptly backpedaled and grasped the end of the whip. She pulled on it a few times in quick succession until the end of it deformed into the shape of a blade.

"Look out!" Omega-xis barked, dragging Geo down the wave road.

Snickering, the woman threw out her hand and clenched another fist, bringing down lightning all over their path. Mega man ducked away trying to avoid the electric rain, but a stray bolt caught Geo somewhere. He wasn't sure where exactly, but the shock that went through his body forcibly engaged every single muscle and tendon he had, to the point he was screaming out in pain through a clenched jaw.

"You didn't really think you could get away, did you?" The woman asked cruelly, approaching from behind. "Not after all the trouble you went through to catch my eye?"

"Shake it off!" Omega-xis growled to Geo as he tried to regain his footing.

He'd been hit with electrical attacks before, and not that they weren't downright awful, but that one there was especially rough somehow.  
Geo hissed through his teeth and pushed up before immediately darting to the side, avoiding the bladed whip as it swatted towards him. His eyes watered and his jaw couldn't seem to unclench itself, but he pushed on, snapping the FM-ian head on his arm up and firing.

A round slugged her in the shoulder, and she gasped out, more offended than pained. Regardless, she backed off while Geo forced himself to refocus and steady himself, her mouth agape and a hand on her shoulder.

"No," Geo ground out. "I didn't think I could get away, and I wasn't planning to."

"You good?" Omega-xis muttered.

"Good enough," Geo replied quietly before pulling out a battle card. "Predation!"

The FM-ian chomped down on the card and transformed into a sword, pointed at their golden clad opponent.

"You aren't the usual crowd after Hikari Kazuma, but either way, you're after the wrong guy!" Geo proclaimed. "He wasn't the one who stole the ultimate program and we don't know who did!"

The woman pressed her lips into a frown and brushed off her shoulder.

"I already knew that," she scoffed. "Anyone with an actual brain could tell that the ultimate program wasn't stolen by any human hand."

What?

"Then why are you here?" Geo questioned as the woman dropped her weight again and slid sideways through the air. "Why are you after him?"

"Ugh," she groaned. "Perhaps it would do better if you had the context that I'm not after the Hikari boy, I want over."

"She said what?" Omega-xis balked.

"What?"

"Over?" She reiterated, waving her off hand in a circular motion. "Oh... Mothra? Dimitri Zekayev? He's fond of that name. Over one? Prototype zero dash, zero one?"

Geo drew up a blank. He didn't know anyone going by any of those names… did he?

"Come now," she sneered before snapping her bladed whip towards Mega Man, angrily yelling, "I DIDN'T SHUT DOWN THE CITY'S POWER GRID JUST TO GET THE SILENT TREATMENT FROM AN INSOLENT MEGA MAN LIKE YOU!!!"

"Geez!" Geo wheezed, parrying the incoming strikes as the blade whipped all around him.

"MUST I SPELL IT OUT?!" The woman bellowed. "ARE YOU WORKING FOR HIM OR ARE YOU NOT?!?!"

"Could use a shield here!" Advised Omega-xis.

"Better yet-!" Geo jumped out of the visible spectrum, re-materializing across the street after a millisecond trip around the block and back.  
He gulped down some fresh air and laid out suppression fire to turn the tides and get the woman on the ropes where he wanted her.

"What the heck is she talking about?" The Mega man wondered, repeating her words in his head.  
"Wait, working for?"

He stopped firing and gave her a puzzled look.

"You mean number one?" Geo questioned.

"Ugh, yes!" The woman groaned again before biting her lips, pressing her eyes shut, shaking her head, and daintily raising her off hand in a lady-like posture, complete with a sweet smile and unfriendly eyes.

"Him." She said, trying to calm down. "You see, he's quite the pain in the rear, and we four Kings would rather be rid of the pest. If you give him to me, I will let you live. But that's only if."

There were several things about that offer and the way she acted about it that Geo and Omega-xis didn't like a bit.

"You're gonna have to do better than just offering our lives, lady!" The FM-ian barked as Mega man prepared another battle card.

"Oh? I thought you humans held your lives in such high regard?" She pointed out condescendingly, before practically screeching, "I SUPPOSE I WAS MISTAKEN! Though, I don't blame you for your loyalty. The mysteries of time travel are so tantalizing, aren't they?"

What?

What?!

"Who said anything about Time travel?" Geo sputtered, officially confused.

At the question, her eyes went wide and she covered her mouth in embarrassment. Really, her entire body language molded into the pigeon toed, guilty appearance of a scolded child.  
A moment passed before she took a breath, narrowed her vision and slowly removed her hand.

"I've said too much."

If the words didn't rumble like thunder in the streets, Geo wouldn't have caught her saying it.

Not that it mattered, as she snapped her fingers exactly once, and Geo instinctively moved to jump away.  
Balls of electricity began sparking along the wave road with killer velocity. Mega man jumped down to another golden wave- except she was right there again-!

Geo gasped out as the blue whip abruptly coiled around his neck and dragged him not only down, but through the wave road in it's entirety. The weapon went taught and the Mega man jolted in the air.

Something in his neck, to put it accurately, might've just fucking broke.

Obviously, it wasn't his spine or his windpipe, somehow, since he was still hanging there, choking, gaging, hearing Omega-xis calling out to him, staring up at her cruel, cruel face as she pursed her lips with distain.

Something glinted in her eyes, and she turned her nose up.

"You can either hand him over willingly, or not. Your choice."

And with that, plus a flick of her wrist, Mega man found himself flung through the air, and abruptly on the hood of a car.

Geo didn't feel the impact, which made him initially think he might've phased though it on the wave frequency or something, but a second passed and his back and head and definitely his neck all sang a song of pain.


End file.
